New Blog: "Relax, it was just a joke...": Ontario Court of Appeal upholds zero tolerance for inappropriate workplace behaviour

Will Russell and Michelle Kropp’s latest blog discusses the widely anticipated decision where the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the termination of a 30-year employee for a single incident of misconduct in the context of sport.

In Render v. ThyssenKrupp Elevator (Canada) Limited, 2022 ONCA 310, the Appellant (the employee whose employment was terminated) argued that they should not have lost their job for striking their female co-worker’s buttocks.[i] In the Safe Sport context, this decision has critical lessons for sport organizations responding to allegations of maltreatment.

There is no such thing as locker-room talk. Misconduct is misconduct.

[i] Full text of the decision is available here. The facts are set out in detail at paragraphs 5 - 27.